McGill student Zach Paikin (U3 Middle East studies) ran for National Policy Chair of the Liberal Party of Canada. He was defeated by Maryanne Kampouris in the vote last weekend. The Tribune caught up with Paikin last week before the convention to discuss his vision for the future of the Liberal Party, his work with campus media, and how he feels about the recent surge in young people involved in Canadian politics.  

How can the Liberal Party better appeal to Canadians? What needs to change?

There are so many things that need to change, but number one is we need a generational shift. And it’s a must. Number two—we’ve got to create the most open political party in Canadian history. I’d like to see that reflected in natural steps to either open up our policy process or our membership. If it empowers the liberal—and I mean small liberal—grassroots of our party, then it’s a good thing, and that’s what we should be basing our decisions on. 

What do you think both the recent election of the NDP Four, as well as the two other policy chair candidates under 25, say about youth involvement in Canadian politics?

I’m always glad to see young people get involved in Canadian politics, although I should state that there’s a big difference between people like [both] Braeden Caley and myself, who are young Liberals and have been campaigning from coast to coast and know the issues and have been meeting with grassroots liberals, versus people who didn’t even step foot in their ridings over the course of their entire campaign and got caught up in a big wave … If you know the issues, if you’re passionate about it, if you really run a hard campaign, then you deserve to be elected. … You’re supposed to know the issues that are plaguing your constituents, [and] … representing your constituents in Ottawa. [These MPs] are now sent to Ottawa, and I don’t think many of them are necessarily qualified to be Members of Parliament. 

Surely many of the new young NDP MPs put considerable effort into campaigning.

If you’re talking about the McGill Four—not in their ridings—no. They might have campaigned for Thomas Mulcair, but not in their own ridings. We have a system deliberately, because in our country we are a vast, diverse country, we determined we need a political system that enables local representation. That’s the entire idea. It’s not some national list like the NDP wants.  

Based on the results of the last election, do you think Canadians maybe feel now that federal politics aren’t territorial? That the leader of the party is now the driving factor?

I think what there has been unfortunately, and tragically, is a centralization of power as this has been the case over several consecutive administrations, Liberal and Conservative alike. But it has extended and accelerated massively under the Harper government—the centralization of power in the Prime Minister’s  Office.    

I’m a little bit concerned as to how far that centralization has gone. I hope that there are ways—and I think the Liberal party will be able to provide ways—to stop that and change that. We’re now in a situation where one man who’s simply one member of Parliament out of the 308 [members], has the power to unilaterally shut down the people’s parliament. Set the country back a lot, shut down the Senate, shut down the House of Commons, shut down the foundation of democracy if he’s facing a confidence motion he’s afraid he might lose. That’s really scary. 

Tell me about your column in the Prince Arthur Herald, which some classify as a “small-c conservative” newspaper. 

There are many card-carrying Liberal party members who wrote for the Herald, even a few card-carrying NDP members who were part of the Herald. You can call the Herald a small-c conservative newspaper because of its editorial stance, but it doesn’t censor its columnists. There needs to be a forum on campus for members of all political stripes to express themselves and engage in civil discourse and dialogue … I’m also not very encouraged by the fact that there has been this rise of inappropriate behaviour and physical intimidation from the radical left, and I’m glad there’s a newspaper out there like the Herald that anyone can write for and not be afraid to express their opinion. Civil discourse and dialogue are pillars of liberal society; it’s not a conservative thing alone.

This interview has been condensed and edited. The views in this interview represent the opinions of the subject and not necessarily those of the McGill Tribune.

—Compiled by Anand Bery